


I'm Just a Fool Baby, Playin' It Mr. Cool Baby

by popculturehoe



Series: Magnetic [6]
Category: The West Wing
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, First Dates, First Kiss, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Secret Crush, Slow Build, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-25
Updated: 2020-05-25
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:53:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24359140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/popculturehoe/pseuds/popculturehoe
Summary: All he could remember about their kiss was that she tasted sweeter than any candy he'd ever eaten and that Dave Matthews Band was playing in the background.
Relationships: Josh Lyman/Original Female Character
Series: Magnetic [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1752097
Kudos: 10





	I'm Just a Fool Baby, Playin' It Mr. Cool Baby

**Author's Note:**

> I'm already going out of order... oops. I will be filling in the gaps in subsequent stories though. This takes place about a year after First Impressions. 
> 
> The title comes from the song "If Only" by Dave Matthews Band.

Sara had just come back to the West Wing after an interview with a member of the Department of Justice counsel; she was writing a story about a case he was on. A pharmaceutical company in Michigan had been manufacturing a blood pressure medication that was found to be laced with other drugs, which when mixed with this particular drug were often lethal, and several hundred people who were taking the medication had died. The company was being sued by many of the families of the people who had died and investigated by the FDA. As soon as she walked into the Press Corps offices, Laura jumped up from her desk and eagerly handed her a piece of paper. 

"Lover Boy called asking for you," she informed her, handing her the piece of paper. All it said was "Call Josh. Urgent." Her brow furrowed; that was odd, Josh was never that cryptic when leaving a message for her. She was actually a little worried that something bad had happened. 

"Thanks," she said, rolling her eyes. 

Laura knew that Sara and Josh were just friends, albeit good friends, but despite this the line between friends and something more could get a little blurred at times. She saw the looks they gave one another when they thought the other wasn't paying attention. She saw how jealous Josh could be, how downright angry he was when Sara had gone out with Sam a couple times. She saw the way they spoke to each other, the teasing that sometimes masked flirtation, and they often had no concept of personal space. There were always little touches, both of the eager to have contact with one another, her often placing a hand on his arm when they were talking or him having his hand planted on the small of her back as they walked through the hallways of the West Wing. 

Sara went back to her cubicle, and after taking off her coat and hanging her purse on one of the arms of her chair, she picked up her desk phone and dialed Josh's desk number. It rang a few times, so she figured he was either busy working or not in his office, but on the fourth ring he picked up. 

"Josh Lyman," he answered the phone. 

"It's me," she said, leaning back in her chair. "I got your message." 

"Lisa said you were out," he began. "Where were you?" 

"Her name is Laura," she corrected him for the thousandth time. "I told you yesterday, I had to meet with that lawyer at the DOJ about the Zepeptol case." 

"Oh yeah, right," he said absently. 

"Is everything okay?" she asked. "All the message said was 'Call Josh. Urgent.'" 

"Yeah, yeah, everything's fine," he said quickly. She could sense a nervousness in his voice. They had been friends long enough by then that she could sense the slightest change in his tone or demeanor. This wasn't normal for Josh, he never sounded nervous; he was normally all confidence and bravado. "Did you catch any of the Islander game last night?" 

"No, I didn't... I was working late," she replied slowly, a hint of suspicion in her voice. "Are you sure everything's alright? What was so urgent that you couldn't wait until the next time we see each other?" 

There was a long silence in the conversation, and she could hear him shuffling papers. "Do you wanna go out on Thursday night?" 

Her stomach flipped. Did he really just ask her out? Maybe he meant go out to a bar or something to watch a game like they usually did, or with the other members of the Senior Staff. 

"The Islanders and the Rangers are off on Thursday," she stated. "Maybe Sam, Ainsley, Donna, CJ, and Toby wanna go to McCabe's?" 

"I know that," he told her. There was another pause. "I didn't mean our regular thing, or with anyone else... I meant... just you and me. Somewhere nicer than Jack's... like a date." 

"You're joking," she breathed out a laugh. 

She couldn't believe it. She wasn't misinterpreting what he was saying, Josh was asking her out on a _real_ date. He must have taken her silence as a rejection, because after several moments he said, "I-It's okay if you don't want to, I understand." 

She smiled. "No, no, I want to." 

He pumped his fist in the air. "I'll pick you up at your apartment at eight. That way you have time to change or whatever." 

"O-Okay," she stammered. 

"Good," he said softly. "I'll let you get back to work."

"Alright." She was trying to hide the excitement in her voice and failing miserably. They exchanged goodbyes and Sara gingerly placed the phone back in its cradle. Taking a deep breath, she almost pinched herself to make sure she wasn't dreaming, and that the conversation she had just had had actually happened. 

**********

Thursday night came quickly. Sara had gotten home fairly early that evening, around five. She made herself something to eat and then showered. As she was towel drying her hair, she went into her closet to look for something to wear. Unsure of what kind of place Josh was planning on taking her to, she didn't know what to wear. A t shirt and jeans was probably too casual, a dress too formal. After deliberating for almost half an hour, she finally decided on a pale blue sweater with black pants and flats, that way if he took her to a nicer restaurant she wouldn't be underdressed, but if he took her to a bar or a movie she would look like she had just gotten off work. Her hair was the next thing she had to tackle. It was still damp from the shower, so she brushed it underneath the blow dryer, something she didn't do often when she wasn't working. She decided to leave it at that because by the time she took a look at the clock on her oven it was already 7:40.

As she was waiting for Josh to arrive, she looked at the clock every two minutes. The anticipation was killing her. Her stomach was doing somersaults and her heart was thumping loudly in her chest, something that happened every time she saw, spoke to, or even thought about her friend, and she hated it. For over a year she had tried to push the feelings away, but it was no use. Josh had become one of her best friends, one of her closest confidants; they had been through a lot together already, what with Rosslyn and the proceeding few months when Josh was struggling and at his most volatile and vulnerable, and not to mention the tension that had been evident between them from very early on in their friendship, but that she couldn't bring herself to call him out on or act upon. After Rosslyn though, that was when she realized how strong her feelings for him were. She was in love with him. 

But she still couldn't shake the thoughts she had about what would happen after the date. What if it went horribly and things became awkward between the two of them? What if it went well and they continued to see each other, but at some point down the line they had to end it and couldn't handle going back to being friends? That happened all too often; she couldn't stomach the thought of their friendship being ruined. But what if it went well and it was the start of something great? That last thought was fleeting because she heard a knock on her door. 

She opened the door to her apartment to see Josh standing in the hallway. As soon as their eyes met he smiled impishly at her, his dimples showing, and she blushed in spite of herself. She had half-expected him to be in the same rumpled suit he had been wearing for the past two days, but to her surprise he was wearing a crisp, clean, white button down with a striped navy blue and green tie, and he wasn't wearing a suit jacket, only his winter coat.

"Wow, you actually bothered to iron for me?" she asked facetiously, putting a hand to her chest. "I'm honored."

"No, actually, Donna always makes sure I have spare shirts in my office in case I spill something or don't get a chance to go home and change one night."

_Of course she does, Sara thought. That woman is more prepared for an emergency situation than FEMA is._

"Ready to go?"

"Yeah, let me just grab my purse." She went back into the apartment and grabbed her leather tote off her kitchen table. She then followed Josh out and locked the door behind her.

Josh drove the two of them to a restaurant in an off the beaten path neighborhood in Georgetown. They talked over crab cakes, New York strip steak, and 1985 Merlot. Slowly as the night went on, Sara's nerves diminished.

"That drug cartel thing seems like it's getting pretty heated," she said, taking a sip of her wine. The U.S. and Colombian governments were in a stalemate over an illegal drug trafficking negotiation.

"Yeah, Leo and the President are pretty stressed about it," he told her. "But listen, I'm not here to talk about work. We can talk about drug trafficking negotiations or education reform bills or polling numbers any time. I wanna talk about _you_ , what's going on with you _outside_ of work." He thought for a moment. "Tell me one thing I don't know about you." 

"Come on Josh," she cried. "That's hard. You know a lot about me already." 

He waved his hand dismissively. "Just superficial stuff." Truthfully, he wanted to learn everything about her. He wanted to learn the ins and outs of her, beyond her favorite band, her sister's name, and how she liked her coffee. He wanted to know about her summers at her grandparents' beach house, about the time she ran away from home when her parents were on the brink of divorce, what she looked like first thing in the morning. 

"Fine..." She put her finger on her chin, thinking. "See this scar on my forehead?" She leaned over the table a little so her face was illuminated by the small lamp in the middle of it and pointed to a small pink line in the middle of her forehead. Josh tried his hardest not to look down her sweater, which had drooped at the neckline. "My brother accidentally hit me with a lawn dart when I was fourteen." 

"Ouch," he laughed. 

"Your turn." She rested her chin on her hands, studying his face as he thought - his warm brown eyes, his ever-expressive eyebrows, his perfectly mussed hair, his adorable dimples which accenutated his mega-watt smile. Finally he spoke. 

"I went to sleep away camp from age eleven to fourteen, because you know, it wasn't enough that I went to boarding school nine months out of the year, my parents had to send me away for eight weeks over the summer too," he explained. "That's Jewish parents for you. Anyway, the first summer I went there, some of the older boys, they were probably thirteen or fourteen, they convinced me to go to the lake in the middle of the night for an 'initiation'. They told me I had to strip and then jump in the lake, and they were going to too. Well, long story short, I ripped my clothes off and ran in, thinking they were following behind me, but they stole my clothes after I left them on the shore and I had to run back to my cabin, stark naked. To make things worse, the counselor who was in charge of my cabin realized I was gone and by the time I got back everyone was looking for me. So the whole camp saw me running around like an idiot because I couldn't see a thing in the dark, in the nude no less. I was so embarrassed I cried when I got back to my bunk." 

"Oh my God," she was holding back laughter. She reached out and put her hand over his. "I'm sorry, Josh. You told me that in confidence, I shouldn't be laughing." 

"It's okay," he smiled wryly. "I was a naive and gullible kid. I grew up pretty sheltered until I went to a public high school." She was shocked, this was the first time he was telling her anything about his childhood. 

Josh had been a perfect gentleman. He opened doors for her, he wasn't sarcastic or rude, and he paid for the meal. The two of them talked and joked the entire time. They practically walked shoulder to shoulder as they made their way back to Josh's car. He felt anxiety creeping in as he drove back to Sara's apartment. The date was almost over, which meant he had to decide quickly whether or not he was going to kiss her before she got out. 

He felt like he was fifteen again. He wanted to kiss her so badly, but he was scared of ruining their friendship. The thought of not being friends with her as a result of this was too painful for him to think about, but at the same time he was willing to take the risk. 

_Come on man, he thought. Just do it... When was the last time you threw caution to the wind?_

Before long, they were sitting in front of Sara's apartment building. He put the car into park and turned down the volume on the radio, which was playing "Crash Into Me" by Dave Matthews Band.

"I had a really nice time tonight," she told him, smiling shyly. Her stomach was doing flips again, she almost felt nauseous. 

"Me too." His eyes met hers. It was now or never. Her heart began to race and her breath caught in her throat; she had seen that look in his eyes before, but it was usually gone as quick as it came. 

He reached over the center console and placed a hand on her cheek, leaning in and tentatively brushing his lips on hers tenderly. She grabbed the back of his neck to pull him closer as she kissed him back, which was difficult given the circumstances, causing a wave of adrenaline to rush over him. He deepened the kiss slightly. 

They broke apart and it was over all too quickly for either of their likings, not that they made an indication of that or said anything out loud. She smiled at him under hooded lashes. 

"I'll see you tomorrow?" she asked softly, trying to catch her breath. Her entire body was vibrating from his touch. 

"Yeah," he nodded. A smile spread across her face again and she got out of the car. He leaned over, watching her buzz herself in and making sure the door shut behind her. He sat there for several more minutes, wanting to collect himself and focus his racing mind before he drove home. It was only when he glanced up at her bedroom window and saw that her light was on that he pulled away. 

The next morning when he told Donna about how it went, all he could remember when thinking about their kiss was that she tasted sweeter than any candy he'd ever eaten and that Dave Matthews Band was playing in the background. 

**Author's Note:**

> For those of you in the U.S., Happy Memorial Day!!


End file.
